


Goodnight Moon

by swarls



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, HSDDH, Kid Fic, M/M, Minor Character Death, POV Alternating, Pack Feels, Single Parent Derek, hot single dad Derek Hale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-13
Updated: 2015-01-13
Packaged: 2018-03-07 11:59:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3173194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swarls/pseuds/swarls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His pack pushed him away, never spoke to him. For six years Stiles has been away at college and the only person he really kept in touch with was Scott. So when he goes back to Beacon Hills after his father has a heart attack and sees Derek with a toddler his entire world is turned upside down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goodnight Moon

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first completed fic. If you see any mistakes, which I'm sure there are some, let me know and I'll fix it as quickly as possible. Kudos and comments are always appreciated! <3  
> title from song [goodnight moon](https://play.google.com/music/preview/Ta5zlwtvsysrdv5loenxcklgo3q?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics) by go radio  
> UPDATE: i realized that the timeline was off so i made it so that Stiles was gone for six years, staying in Florida for his Masters so that it would make more sense for Derek to have a four year old daughter.

The past two years had been hard on Derek. He and Braeden were getting along happily, they had a two-year-old daughter named Samantha together, and they were, for the most part, out of danger from other supernatural creatures. Braeden occasionally still worked for hire, but because of their daughter, she kept to lower profile cases and ones that were close to Beacon Hills. But on a trip to New Mexico where she thought she was dealing with a couple rogue werewolves, she was actually dealing with twelve. She was dead within minutes.

When Derek got word, his heart was broken. He had had a terrible feeling about her going to New Mexico, but Braeden waved it off as if it were nothing. Derek had felt guilty ever since.

For the first few months, every time he looked at their daughter he got a pang of guilt. He wished Sam had a mother to grow up with. He had grown even less talkative, never went to pack gatherings or play dates with other kids. He basically kept himself and Sam in isolation for three months until finally he got his head out of his ass (well, Erica made him get his life on track with a fierceness he couldn’t match).

On the one-year anniversary of her death, Derek brought Sam to her mother’s grave. She was buried next to her brother.

Derek constantly talked to Sam about Braeden and how strong and courageous she was and even though she was only two Derek had a feeling that Sam understood.

Now Sam was four and in preschool. Cora dropped her off every morning and Derek picked her up at noon daily. She was a social butterfly and was friends with almost every kid in her class. Derek tried to teach her to love everyone no matter how shy they were or how weird they seemed. He often told her stories of his super-weird friend Stiles and how even though Derek sometimes wanted to hurl him into a lake, Stiles was brave and smart, and Derek wouldn’t be alive without him.

Sam liked to hear stories about his adventures with the rest of his pack—ex-pack.

Almost everyone from his pack had left for college. Scott was currently at Ohio State for veterinary science, Allison went to UCLA for law school, Lydia went to Yale for god knows what (she had told Derek once, but it sounded complicated, so he just nodded and pretended to know what the hell she was talking about), and Stiles went to a college in Florida for an English degree. Erica and Boyd had both gone to the community college near Beacon Hills and then Erica decided to get her business license while working at the bookstore. Boyd got his teaching degree and is now a fifth grade teacher at the local elementary school. Isaac came back from France after high school and he had gotten a degree in social work. Cora got a degree in history and now works at the museum. Somehow Cora and Isaac’s paths had crossed when Isaac was on vacation with some buddies in South America and the two had been inseparable since.

Derek has had almost no contact with any of them. He has been so busy keeping up with Sam that he has done hardly anything outside wishing them happy birthday and merry Christmas once a year. Occasionally he’ll get a call from Scott asking how everything is, but mostly he keeps to himself. They’re all still pack though. It’s hard with Scott, as the alpha, to be so far away, but he had gotten a full scholarship to OSU and couldn’t turn down the opportunity. Derek had encouraged him along with everyone else to get the hell out of Beacon Hills while they still could.

The only one who had truly left the pack was Stiles. It had been the worst moment of Derek’s life and he had put it out of his mind for so long now that he barely remembers the feeling (or so he tells himself).

Luckily he has his four fellow betas around constantly, as well as his handful of a daughter to keep his mind mostly occupied. The only time Derek ever really has time to himself is when he’s on his morning runs while everyone else is at work and Sam is at school.

Today however, is his and Sam’s daddy-daughter day (once every few months he likes to spend an entire day with her doing all the things she wants, no matter how crazy they are). He let her skip school and they went to the arcade this morning. She decided she wanted to play whack-a-mole and almost broke the game (she constantly forgets how strong she is). Now they’re going to get some food at the diner around the corner and she can order anything she wants.

“ _Anything_ , daddy?” Sam’s eyes are bright with excitement when they slide in the booth across from each other.

“ _Anything,_ ” he replies with just as much enthusiasm. He smiles at the waitress and asks for a coffee.

“Can I have coffee, too?”

Sam has never been allowed to have coffee before, but Derek did say she could get anything and he was nothing if not completely honest with his daughter, so he nods. “Sure, Sammy.” Derek looks at the waitress and mouths ‘decaf’ at her. She nods and tells them she’ll be right back with two coffees and an orange juice, just in case.

“What’s a omelet?” She looks down at the menu with confusion and disgust as if the name had personally offended her.

“It’s something you’ll hate because you don’t like eggs.”

The waitress comes back with their drinks. “Take your time to figure out what you want. I’ll check back on you in a few minutes.” She smiles and sets down a straw for the OJ and walks away to clear some of the other tables. Derek puts the straw in the OJ absentmindedly while he looks over the breakfast menu.

“I know what I want!” Sam jumps a little enthusiastically in her seat and Derek smiles at her in adoration.

“Are you going to tell me or is it going to be a surprise?”

“It’s gunna be a supplies, daddy.”

Derek laughs and takes a sip of his coffee. “Careful, baby, it’s hot.” Sam blows on her coffee. “Do you want to put sugar and milk in it?”

“No. I wanna drink it like you.” Sam grins. When she takes a small sip, her face contorts and her lips pucker. Derek takes out his phone and takes a quick picture as he laughs. When Sam has finally stopped wiping at her tongue, she takes a big gulp of her OJ. “Ew, daddy, how do you drink that?” she wonders, giving the cup a scared look.

Derek reaches over and pulls the decaf coffee to his side. He’ll finish it when his is gone. “It’s a grown up drink. When you get older you might start to like it.”

“No, daddy, I don’t think I’ll ever like that.” Derek laughs and reaches over to rub his hand over his daughter’s head just as the waitress comes over and asks if they’re ready. “I wanna have the Ultra Burger with tater tots.”

Both Derek and the waitress look at her with eyebrows raised. The waitress is the first to speak. “You sure about that sweetie? It’s a monster burger. Sometimes even big ole men can’t finish it.”

“I’m sure.” Sam looks over at her dad with pleading eyes.

“And I’ll have the same.” Derek smiles at his daughter who giggles.

“Alrighty, coming right up.” She looks between the two of them with her eyebrows still raised in disbelief, but walks away to put their order in.

Derek finishes most of his burger and half of his tots while Sam can hardly finish half of her burger and a few tater tots. But they get it to go so that they can have it tomorrow for dinner if they want.

Sam now wants to go to the bookstore where Erica works. “Maybe Aunt Erica will read to me, daddy. She does funny voices just like you!” Derek smiles softly remembering the way Erica would tell Sam stories.

He was so grateful to have her in his life. She and Boyd, as well as Isaac and Cora have all helped him so much through the past two years of raising Sam that without them he would have gone completely insane.

When they got to the bookstore a familiar scent hit him like a ton of bricks. He stopped so suddenly that Sam looked up at him with her brows furrowed and a frown on her face.

Then he saw the one person he never expected. “Stiles?” he said. His heart was hammering wildly in his chest. Stiles looked older, his hair messy, all over the place like he had run his fingers through it absently. Everything Derek had worked so hard to put behind him rushed forward full force. He felt that bond between them snap, made his chest hurt for a few seconds.

Sam’s high-pitched whine brought him out of his distress though. He pushed all of those feelings aside and focused on calming himself. He placed a hand on Sam’s head as she settled against his leg. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh… Who’s the kid?”

Derek barely refrains from rolling his eyes. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“You didn’t answer mine,” he replies.

He narrows his eyes at Stiles. “Her name is Sam. Sam, this is Stiles. Can you say hi to Stiles?”

Sam looks at Stiles and he can feel her grip tighten on his leg protectively. Apparently she understood that Stiles was the person that had caused all of Derek’s momentary distress. Derek looked down at her and squeezed her shoulder comfortingly, but her eyes flashed at Stiles warningly and she stuck out her tongue at him. Derek felt a moment of pride before he turned to Stiles again.

When he finally caught a whiff of something else on the boy, he moved in closer. Sam clutched at his leg even harder and he would have had bruises if not for his healing. “Stiles, what are you doing here? And why do you smell like the hospital?”

Stiles licked his lips and Derek watched the movement. Stiles had a sudden change of smell suddenly and Derek had to keep his face neutral. But he didn’t move until Sam kicked out at him. Derek caught her ankle before it made contact with Stiles’ shin.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” He grabbed Sam’s waist and put her on the floor. “Sammy, why don’t you go find that book you were looking for?” Derek pushed her hair behind her ear and rubbed his thumb across her cheek.

“But daddy, you said you would help me look for it!” she whined.

“I know, baby, but I need to talk to my friend. How bout you find two books and I’ll promise to read them both to you tonight before bed?”

Sam frowns for all of a second before smiling smugly. “Only if we get brownies for desert.”

Derek chuckles and kisses her forehead. “Deal.” Sam grins and hurries over to the children’s section.

When Derek turns and looks at Stiles he has confusion written all over his face. Derek waits until finally realization hits him and he looks over at Sam.

 “What?!” he practically yells.

 

 

\---

 

Stiles was furious with his dad. When he walked into the hospital almost in a full panic attack, his father just scooped up a spoonful of pudding and said, “Hey, son,” as if he didn’t know _exactly_ how worked up Stiles would be.

Instead of telling him how pissed off he was though, he just took his pudding away from him with a scowl and put it on the table as far from his reach as possible. Then he wrapped his arms tightly around his neck doing his best to hold back tears of relief that he was alright.

“I know, son. I know.”

At his words, Stiles broke. He sobbed into his father’s shoulders, memories of losing his mother flooding him. Being in this hospital, seeing his mother, frail and small, yet still full of love for both of them. Stiles didn’t think he could lose his dad. He couldn’t bear not having his dad to come home to. He wouldn’t be able to come back home at all most likely. Not with every street, every little shop having some kind of painful memory of his dad.

But luckily he was okay.

“I’m going home and taking out all the junk food from the house. Then I’m going to every grocery store within a 30-mile radius, showing every employee your picture, and telling them that if they give you anything with more calories or cholesterol than you weigh, I will personally make their life hell. Then I’m going to the station

and personally yelling at every deputy, making sure that if they _ever_ give you shitty food or even _see you_ with junk food and don’t take it away, I will make them wish they were never born. Because so help me—“

“Stiles.” His dad finally pushed him away so that he could smile fondly at his son. He had missed Stiles so much. He had been lonely in that big house all by himself. “I’m glad you’re back. It’s good to see you.” John smiled and put his hand on Stiles’ cheek.

“You, too dad. Even though the circumstances could be better.” Stiles scolded his dad once more before letting it go. For now. He was still definitely going to be chastising his for a while longer, probably all summer. But until his dad can take care of himself without Stiles worrying, he was going to be doing sweeps of his office and house searching for crappy food. He knew most of his dad’s hiding spots, so it wouldn’t be too hard.

Just then Melissa McCall came in. “Stiles!” She did a little jump-step to get to him with her arms wide to capture him in an embrace. After his mother’s passing, Melissa was the closest thing to a mother he had. She treated him exactly as she would treat Scott in every way possible and that made him feel like family. Also the fact that he spent half of his childhood at their house sort of made him her pseudo-adopted kid.

“It’s good to see you, Melissa.” Stiles picked her up in a tight bear hug and laughed when she slapped him upside the head. “Still hate that, don’t you?”

Melissa laughed when she was put down. “Aren’t you missing school?”

“Yeah, aren’t your exams next week?” John suddenly got a little frantic at his son missing school, especially since it was his last semester.

“My professors excused me from this week’s classes since they’re basically all review shit anyway and I took my finals yesterday. So calm down. Don’t get your blood pressure up over nothing, old man.” Stiles smiled over his shoulder at his dad.

“Oh. Well good. I’m glad you’re home then. For good.” John picked up a piece of grilled chicken off of his plate, looked at it for a few seconds, then decided it wasn’t even worth it. “Can you bring by some dinner tonight? This hospital food doesn’t compare to your cooking.”

Stiles turned and smiled. “Sure. As long as you agree to my terms.”

“Which are?”

“I need a job.”

“Well, go out and find one.”

Stiles huffed out a sigh. “No, I mean. Can I get a job at the station?”

John thought about it for a few seconds. “I don’t have any room right now. Kathy just got back from maternity leave or else I’d’ve let you have her position for the summer.”

Melissa spoke up now. “Erica Reyes needs help over at the bookstore. The owner, Mrs. Pence has bad arthritis so she can’t work much. Why don’t you go down there and ask? You know the lady adores you.”

Stiles nodded. He couldn’t help but wonder how Erica would feel about him working there with him since he hadn’t said but maybe ten words to her in the last six years. But he needed a job desperately, so he would just have to deal with whatever awkwardness came up the best he could. “Yeah, I can do that.” He kissed her cheek, then hugged his dad again. “I’m going to go do that now and then take all my stuff to the house. Dinner will be here by six.”

Both John and Melissa said their goodbyes and then Melissa told John that he needed to eat. He griped, but began eating, mumbling that between her and his son, he was going to lose his mind. Melissa just laughed.

Stiles headed towards the little bookstore in the middle of downtown. Memories flooded him here, too, but all of these were good. Mrs. Pence and his mom were good friends. She had been the English teacher when his mother had been in high school and every time Stiles would come into the store she would greet them both excitedly.

His love for books and research came from his mom. She read to him every night before bed, taught him how to read mostly, and then he read to his mother at nights in the hospital (half the time his mind would wonder and he would start talking about a hundred different things before actually returning to read the story). After his mom passed, he inherited all of her books. He now had two bookshelves in his room full of all their books combined, a lot of them double-stacked.

When the bell chimed above the door, he smiled. Mrs. Pence was stacking children’s books over in the corner in a neat fashion while Erica manned the register. She looked up at him with a surprised look on her face, but said nothing.

“Stiles! Hello, dear, how are you? I haven’t seen you or your father in ages!” Mrs. Pence walked over to him slowly, her back slightly hunched.

“Hi, Mrs. P. You are looking fabulous as always,” Stiles bent down to give the old woman a small hug. “I just got back from school today.” He couldn’t help but notice Erica watching them with a slight scowl on her face.

“Oh? And are you going to be here for good?” She looked up at him with hopeful eyes that Stiles couldn’t help but smile at.

“I’m thinking about it. Maybe. But I’m really only here because dad is in the hospital.” He heard Erica suck in a soft breath, but she didn’t say anything. “So I was wondering if you needed any help around here? I could really use a job since I can’t work at the station.”

“Oh, of course! I was actually going to put up one of those ‘Help Wanted’ signs tomorrow. When can you start?”

Stiles practically threw his fist into the air. He desperately needed this money. “I can start today if you want? Why don’t I go make you your favorite tea and you can observe me and see if I do okay?”

She pat his arm and nodded. “Yes, that sounds good.”

Erica went into the back for something as Mrs. Pence took over the seat at the register. He felt awkward already. He knew she would probably not jump at him for a hug, but he didn’t think Erica would flat out ignore him when he came back either.

Stiles went to the small kitchen area in the back, but Erica was nowhere to be found. He just ignored the nagging feeling at the back of his mind, and made his new boss a cup of peppermint tea with two scoops of sugar.

“Here you go, Mrs. P.” Stiles said. “Is there anything in particular you want me to do, or should I just go around the store and tidy up?”

“You can finish over there where the children’s books are and then,” she pointed at a large stack of books on the counter. “All of those need to go back onto their rightful shelves.” She took a small sip of her tea and hummed her approval. “You and your mother always did have the perfect touch.” She smiled over the brim of her cup and Stiles heart swelled in both pride and pain.

But he didn’t dwell on it. Stiles went right to work. The children’s books were haphazardly thrown all over the floor, which he knew could be dangerous for the old lady. He was glad he had come when he did. He knew Erica could manage the bulk of things, but when things got busy Mrs. Pence didn’t need to be wondering around the store with kid’s books thrown everywhere while telling people where they’d find what.

As he found the book’s rightful places, Erica came back into the store. Stiles smiled at her and asked how she was. “Fine,” was all she said, in a clipped tone. So Stiles decided that she was officially mad at him and that he would ask her about it when he got the chance.

Just then the bell chimed. When he came back from one of the shelves in the back corner to pick up a few more of the books to put away, he saw Derek Hale with a little girl hanging off of his arm like it was a jungle gym.

Stiles had forgotten how stupidly good-looking Derek was with his sexy scruff and piercing eyes. And his body. God damn that body. It was as if the lord had literally given him every blessing possible. Stiles had pretty much come to terms with his sexuality _because_ of that Greek god body—not that he would ever tell Derek that. No, in fact, he would probably just fantasize about it later when he got off and be satisfied at that like he used to in high school.

“Stiles? What’re you doing here?” Derek asked, successfully pulling Stiles out of his memories of that time.

“Uh…” he looks from Derek’s sizeable chest to the girl climbing up Derek’s right side. “Who’s the kid?” He immediately deflects the question.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“You didn’t answer mine,” he retorts.

He narrows his eyes at Stiles. “Her name is Sam. Sam, this is Stiles. Can you say hi to Stiles?”

Sam looks at him and her eyes glow yellow for a second before she sticks out her tongue. Stiles almost does the same, but Derek walks closer to him, getting into his personal space like he’s smelling him. Stiles pulls away just a little because he can smell Derek, too, and lord if it didn’t turn him on just a little.

“Stiles, what are you doing here? And why do you smell like the hospital?”

Stiles licks his lips nervously and tries to back away more, but barely gets a few feet before he runs into a shelf full of cookbooks. Derek only followed, making himself even closer, just out of arms reach. “My dad, he, uh, had a pretty bad heart attack, so I came back.” He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, presumably because he was a little scared at the moment that Derek would be able to smell his arousal, and also the fact that Derek Hale, who had a pint sized werewolf hanging off his side, was so close to him he could almost feel his warm breath on his cheek, not making it any better. Sam kicked out her leg at Stiles, but Derek caught it.

Finally Derek backed away. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” He grabbed a hold of Sam and put her on the floor before kneeling down and saying, “Sammy, why don’t you go find that book you were looking for?”

“But daddy, you said you would help me look for it!” she whined.

“I know, baby, but I need to talk to my friend.” He pauses for a moment and says, “How bout you find two books and I’ll promise to read them both to you tonight before bed?”

Sam thinks about it for a minute. “Only if we get brownies for desert.”

Derek chuckles and kisses her forehead. “Deal.” Sam grins wide and storms off into the children’s section.

As Derek rights himself, Stiles stands there slightly confused. Then after a few seconds he finally realizes what Sam called Derek. He looks at Derek with wide eyes and opens his mouth to speak, but can’t find the words. Derek looks at him and waits, as he used to, with his eyebrows raised in a judgmental stare. Finally Stiles just says, “What?!”

Derek looks back to find Sam rummaging through different books, apparently having no interest in the ones available. Stiles looks over, too, but winces as books are tossed all over the floor again. “Braeden and I had her four years ago.”

“You’re a dad,” Stiles barely whispers it and if it weren’t for Derek’s super-hearing he probably wouldn’t have heard it.

“Yeah,” was all Derek said.

“So…” Stiles found himself at a loss for words, still wrapping his mind around the fact that _Derek Hale_ was the father of a werewolf cub. “You—“

“How’s your dad doing?” Derek asked. He obviously didn’t want to talk about it, so Stiles nodded, but looked back and forth between them as he talked.

“He’s doing okay. He’s in the hospital until tomorrow. Then I’ll have to keep him on a strict diet, like I did in high school, which he _obviously_ didn’t follow when I left, no matter how many times I got onto him about it.” Finally he looked at Derek without turning to look at Sam again.

“How’s school?”

“It’s okay. Luckily I only had another couple of weeks and my professors let me take my finals early so I could come back. I won’t get to walk the stage or anything, but I’m officially a college graduate so long as I passed my finals, which I’m sure I did with flying colors.”

“Congratulations, Stiles.” Derek smiled. He had never gotten a college degree so it was impressive that Stiles and the rest of the pack were all at different universities across the US going after what they wanted.

“Thanks,” Stiles rubbed the back of his neck, somewhat embarrassed at the compliment. Derek had never complimented him on anything. But Stiles had never blamed him; he knew Derek was terrible at giving due thanks and gratitude to anyone.

The bell at the front counter chimed again. “I better get back to work.”

Derek looked confused for a second then nodded and turned to get Sam, and then said over his shoulder, “It’s good to see you, Stiles.”

Stiles choked out a reply. “Yeah, uh, you, too.”

Derek went to help Sam find her books. When he realized that it was one of Mrs. Pence’s friends coming in to get a book for their book club, he went back to putting books on their shelves.

Erica went over to talk to Derek in hushed tones. Stiles wished he had werewolf hearing so he’d know why Erica was so upset, which he could visibly see. He wanted to know what he did to her so that he could apologize and they could be friends. He had always liked Erica, even though she could occasionally be kind of a bitch at times and she could put the fear of God into anyone. But Stiles had always thought they got along pretty well.

When the books were all put away on their shelves Erica was picking up the children’s section. Stiles went to the front counter where Mrs. Pence was now putting Sam’s four new books in a bag. Stiles smiled a little.

“Daddy,” Sam whispers into Derek’s ear loudly, but Stiles pretends he can’t hear her. “Is that the Stiles that you told me ‘bout?”

Stiles looks up from watching Mrs. Pence punch in the prices of the books and waits for Derek to reply.

He whispers back just as loudly. “Yeah, Sammy. that’s the one I told you about.” Derek looks over at Stiles and quirks an eyebrow. Derek wondered what Stiles thought about it, but he didn’t dare ask.

Stiles wondered what the hell Derek was filling his daughter’s head with. What terrible things had he said about him?

Sam looks at Stiles with wide eyes and runs around the counter to bump into Stiles’ leg. Stiles almost topples over, but holds onto the counter to steady himself. Derek told her to get back here, but she ignored him and made grabby hands for Stiles to pick her up. Stiles looked up at Derek who just shrugged. “Up!” Sam said.

“You heard the girl, Stiles.” Mrs. Pence slid the bag of books over the counter to Derek.

So Stiles bent down and picked her up. She had light brown skin. Her mouth was full, like Braeden’s and she had a similar nose as her mother, but her eyes were an exact replica of Derek’s. He was a little taken aback at how beautiful she was this close up.  “Hey, Sammy.” Stiles said instead.

“Why’s your name weird?” she asked. Derek laughed softly, but covered it up with a cough.

“It’s a nickname. You wouldn’t be able to pronounce my real name.”

Sam thought about it for a second then nodded. She touched his forehead. “You don’t smell like us.” Stiles looked confused. He didn’t know what the hell that meant. He looked to Derek for help and he flashed his bright blue eyes.

“Oh.” Stiles leaned in and smelled Sam.

Sam leaned in and smelled him again. “You smell good, though.”

Derek wholeheartedly agreed, but didn’t say so. Instead, he said, “Alright, Sammy, why don’t we let Stiles get back to work?”

“But daddy, it’s _Stiles_!” she replied, as if that were excuse enough to smell him all day. Stiles returned a quirked eyebrow at Derek but didn’t comment.

“Well, maybe Stiles can come over for dinner sometime?” He looked at Stiles when he asked. Erica growled low in her throat so that Stiles couldn’t hear, but Derek could. He ignored her.

“Uh, yeah, sure. How about this weekend?” he asked Sam.

She bounced a little and nodded vigorously. “Yeah! We can have pasketti and meatballs!”

Derek laughed. “If that’s okay with Stiles?”

“Yeah, sounds good. I’ll have to cook my dad dinner first though. Is seven o’clock on Saturday okay?”

Derek nodded and told Sam to let go of Stiles so they could go get some ice cream. At the words ‘ice cream’ she shimmied down Stiles’ body and flung herself at her dad. Stiles laughed and waved at them. “Bye, Sam!” he said.

“Bye Stiles!” she replied. Derek looked over his shoulder at him when they left, but didn’t say goodbye.

The rest of the day all he could think about was Derek and his daughter. How had he not known about this? Four _years_ and he hadn’t been told about Derek having a kid with Braeden. He wondered how she was. He and Braeden had gotten along mostly okay, but Stiles was actually kind of terrified of her, so he had always kept his distance.

At four he asked Mrs. Pence how he was doing. “You’ll be an excellent member of the team, honey.” She pat his cheek. “Now why don’t you go on home. I know you must be tired.”

He thanked her again and when he left the store he realized just how tired he was. He had too much work to do though to take a nap. He needed to get his dad some actual food and then he had to at least start unpacking all of his crap from his jeep.

 

\---

 

Saturday came quickly. Derek took Sam to the grocery store to pick up supplies for their dinner as well as some cake mix for dessert. She wanted to bake a special cake for Stiles and decorate it herself with lots of sprinkles and icing. So Derek picked up her favorite colors of both.

It was just he and Sam living at his loft, but he decided to invite the pack along as well. Cora was helping Isaac with the spaghetti while Derek was putting the cake into the oven. Erica and Boyd were talking together in the living room while the TV played in the background for noise.

The kitchen was a disaster so he started cleaning of all of the cake mix that got onto the counter while Sam was mixing and the egg that got broken on the side of the island, and the spilled milk.

“Sam, did you clean up your room like I asked?” he looked over at Sam who was licking the remaining cake batter from her spoon. She nodded, but ducked her head. He could hear the lie in her heartbeat even if she didn’t have such an obvious tell, so he just looked at her for a few moments. “Are you sure?” She nodded again. “So if I go in there right now, it’s going to be clean?” She nodded. “If it’s not clean, you don’t get cake tonight…” Derek began walking towards her door.

Sam put her spoon in the sink. “I think I left a few toys out.”

Derek smiled and nodded. Cora snickered from where she was stirring the noodles. Isaac looked up from making the meatballs. “You got that crap from mom, didn’t you?” she asked. Derek felt a pang of sadness before nodding. Their mom would have loved Sam so much.

When the cake was done and cooled Derek called Sam back into the kitchen from watching TV. They scooped out vanilla icing onto the first layer and spread it around. Then Derek put the second layer on top and did the same. Then he let Sam spread it around the sides. Sam got blue and purple sprinkles and covered the entire cake with them. Then she asked if she could put a piece of candy on top, so Derek got out some mini M&Ms. Derek put some into his hand and told her to go crazy with them. So she made a smiley face and then put some around the outside.

Dinner was almost ready when Stiles knocked on the door. Erica went to open it and Derek suddenly felt a little nervous. He didn’t want all of those residual feelings to come after him again. He didn’t want Stiles to come into his life just for him to disappear. So he mentally put up a few walls and braced himself.

 

When Stiles saw Erica on the other side of the door he was surprised. He didn’t know she was going to be here. When he looked into the loft he saw Boyd, Isaac, Cora, Derek, and Sam. He didn’t see Braeden, but didn’t ask about it. “Uh, hi.” Erica didn’t reciprocate so he figured she was still pissed at him for something. She had given him the stink eye for three days at the bookstore so he was used to it by now, so instead of just standing in front of her like an idiot as she glared at him, he sidestepped her to walk further into the loft. With him he carried a six-pack of beer though he knew no one else could get drunk from it.

“Hi Stiles!” Sam came running up to him so he braced himself.

“Careful, Sammy,” Derek warned. Sam slowed her pace just as she reached his leg and threw her arms up for him for pick her up.

“Hey there, Sam,” Stiles greeted. He reached down and picked her up with one hand. “You look pretty today,” he smiled.

“I picked it out myself!” she pointed to her princess shirt and striped leggings. Her feet were bare but her toenails were painted bright blue.

Stiles walked into the kitchen and set down the beer. It was silent for a moment while he looked around at everyone. “So when did you two get back?” he addressed Isaac and Cora.

“A while ago,” Cora responded. She smiled softly, but didn’t say anything more.

“About two years.” Isaac bit his lower lip like he was trying to hold back saying anything further.

Stiles put Sam on the ground, much to her dismay, and he walked over to Isaac. He clapped him on his shoulder and opened his arms for a hug. Isaac pulled him in tight and took in a relieved breath. “It’s good to see you, man.” Stiles said. Isaac nodded in return. They hadn’t always been the best of friends, but Isaac had become something of a brother to Stiles before he left. During school it sucked not hearing from him. he had somewhat kept up with everyone else via Scott, but after a while he just stopped asking altogether. It seemed to him that no one really cared whether Stiles was involved in their lives.

He squeezed Isaac one more time and released him. Stiles turned to Cora and held out his arms for her, too. “Come on, I know you want some of this loving,” he smiled and made grabby hands at her. Cora rolled her eyes and tried her best to fight the smile playing at her lips, but she eventually embraced Stiles in a quick hug. She didn’t let it last long though.

“Yo, Boyd, am I going to have to beg for your affection too?” he asked.

Boyd looked at him with a blank stare and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Yeah, I thought so.” Stiles turned to Erica. She crossed her arms, too. “Why are you so pissed at me?” he asked.

She opened her mouth to speak, but Sam spoke up before she could get a word out. “Ooh! Stiles said piss!” Stiles winced and looked at Derek who frowned.

“Alright. Why doesn’t everyone get a drink for themselves so we can have some dinner?” Derek said before Erica could speak. He flashed his eyes at her and she huffed out a sigh before getting two glasses down for herself and Boyd.

Cora and Isaac did the same. Stiles grabbed one of the beers and offered some to everyone else. Derek took one, but everyone else decided on water.

They sat at the dining room table that was in front of the large windows where the desk used to be. Sam insisted on sitting next to Stiles. Derek sat on the other side of her, Erica and Boyd across from them, and Cora sat next to Boyd and Isaac sat at the end of the table closest to Cora and Derek.

Isaac put his hand on Cora’s and rubbed his thumb across her skin. Stiles looked at them in slight confusion. “Are you two dating?” Stiles asked.

Isaac looked down at their hands and smiled. “About three years.” He smiled at Cora and began to dig in to his spaghetti.

“Huh,” Stiles said. He nodded approvingly and began working on his own dinner.

Throughout the meal Sam asked him about how come he left Beacon Hills and why was he suddenly back. Then she said something about her books, which she wanted Stiles to read to her tonight when she went to bed. She also talked about other kids at her school and how she was friends with weird people like Stiles, just like her daddy told her. Cora and Erica both laughed and Derek had to hide his face because he was trying not to laugh as well. Then she told him about the cake they made.

She talked almost nonstop and Stiles didn’t to mind. Her attention was focused primarily on him, which he found heartwarming. He didn’t know what he did to have the love of someone he had only met once before, but Derek must have talked about a few of his and Derek’s adventures because she asked him about the ‘kamina’.

“It was a kanima, baby,” Derek corrected. Stiles still didn’t know how to process the fact that _Derek_ had a fucking kid and called her ‘baby’.

“That’s what I said, daddy,” she retorted. Derek just shook his head and smiled.

Stiles told her the story from his perspective, though he left out the gruesome details. Throughout the entire story Sam looked up at him with wide eyes. At the end of it she looked over at her dad. “How come you never told it like that, daddy?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Stiles said he held you for, like, ever!”

Derek just shrugged. “It wasn’t _that_ long.” He drank the last of his beer and looked over at Stiles who was staring at Derek as if he had gone crazy.

“What?! We were in that water for at least an hour, and you’re heavy as shi—crap, dude! I’m surprised we didn’t drown!” Derek kept his face blank. Stiles threw up his hands in surrender and muttered under his breath about how ungrateful Derek was along with a few other choice words.

“I heard that, you know.” Derek said. Erica finally let out a small laugh before she realized what she did. Then she went back to looking at him with contempt.

They began talking about their lives since they last saw one another. Stiles learned that Boyd was a fifth grade teacher, Cora worked at the museum, and Isaac was a social worker. Derek was currently a stay at home dad since he still had a fortune in the bank and didn’t need a job. Sam was in preschool and would be starting kindergarten next year. She only had two months left of preschool before summer break started for her.

“Are you excited about going into kindergarten?” Stiles asked.

“I guess so. I want Boyd to be my teacher though.”

Boyd smiled fondly at her and said, “You’ll have me in fifth grade, don’t worry.”

“But that’s forever away!” she said in dismay. They all chuckled.

Once everyone was done they cleared the table and Cora started up a pot of coffee. Stiles started to do the dishes, but Sam asked if he could come play with her instead, so Isaac and Boyd took over. Derek and Erica were nowhere in sight, but he ignored that while he went to Sam’s room with her and played princess tea party. She put a crown on his head and sat him at the head of the table. When she got tired of that, they played with Legos for a while.

Cora called out that dessert was served and Sam ran out of the room with Stiles’ hand in hers. Thankfully Stiles hadn’t taken off his shoes because he was walking on a Lego-ridden floor. Sam didn’t seem to mind it though, no matter how much he cringed to think of how badly it hurt.

Sam was allowed to cut the cake with Derek’s help. She gave the first slice to Stiles, which he took with thanks. Then he got himself a cup of coffee instead of going for another beer.

Everyone sat around the table again and started chowing down. “This is delicious, Sammy, did you make it yourself?” Stiles asked.

“Yeah! Daddy helped!” Stiles smiled at Sam and then looked over her head at Derek.

“All I did was mix. Sam is the chef,” Derek rubbed his hand over Sam’s loose dark curls. Sam beamed up at Derek.

They talked some more until Sam had gotten the sugar out of her system and it was time for her to go to bed. Cora, Isaac, Boyd, and Erica decided it was time to as well. Sam asked Stiles if he was still going to read to her tonight, so he agreed to stay.

He cleaned up the kitchen while Derek helped her with her bath. Stiles came in with Sam singing at the top of her lungs and playing with the bubbles that were almost overflowing the tub. “Stiles, can I give you a bubba beard, too?”

Derek turned around and sure enough, the lower half of his face was covered in bubbles. Stiles grinned widely and knelt beside the tub. “Do you best to make me look as good as Derek,” he said. Derek looked over at him, but Stiles had his eyes on the adorable Sammy as she gently rubbed bubbles on his cheeks and over his mouth. Stiles blew air out of his mouth, sending bubbles back at Sam, which she laughed loudly at.

They played in the tub for a while until Derek insisted she brush her teeth. “But daddy—“

“Yeah, but daddy!” Stiles whined. Derek lifted one of his eyebrows at Stiles, but gave in.

“Fine. Five more minutes.” Stiles waved his hands around in celebration while Sam decided to play pirates with her rubber ducks. Derek sat on the toilet watching them. When ten minutes went by and the water was finally cold, Sam stood up and made grabby hands at Stiles. “Here,” Derek said handing him the towel.

Stiles took it, wrapped Sam up in a bundle, and hoisted her out of the bathtub. He handed her off to Derek so he could dry her off and put her in pajamas.

She grabbed one of her books and jumped onto her twin-sized bed. “Come on, Stiles, it’s story time!” Derek sat on one side of the bed, so Stiles took post on the other. Sam immediately crawled into his lap and handed him the book.

It took another two books for Sam to finally fall asleep.

Stiles watched from the doorway as Derek kissed her forehead and tucked her in tight. “Goodnight, baby,” he whispered.

Stiles moved out of the doorway and Derek closed her door, giving her one last look. “She’s a cute kid, man.”

“Thanks.” Derek made his way into the living room and plopped down on the couch.

“So where’s Braeden?” he wondered.

It took him a moment to answer. “She died a couple years ago,” he said softly.

Stiles opened his mouth for a second in disbelief. “Oh. Shit, man, I’m sorry.” Stiles sat next to Derek on the couch and put his hand on Derek’s shoulder.

“It’s okay.” Though it wasn’t. Derek felt terrible about it still, though it didn’t constantly drown him in grief like it had in the beginning.

Stiles knew he wouldn’t want to talk about it, so he asked about Erica. “So do you know why Erica hates me?”

Derek knew he was going to ask about it. “She’s pissed because you practically fell off the face of the earth. She thinks you abandoned us and the only reason you’re back is because of your dad and that you wouldn’t be back otherwise. She also doesn’t think we should let you back into the pack because she thinks you’ll ditch us again.” Derek looked over at Stiles who still had his hand on Derek’s shoulder. “Don’t tell her I told you this, but she was pretty upset when you went all the way to Florida for college. And the fact that you rarely ever talked to us after you left.” Derek didn’t let it be known that he felt the same about pretty much all of it times ten. The boy didn’t know what effect he had on Derek, and if he could help it, Derek would keep it that way.

“Dude, I went there because my mom graduated from there. I didn’t just want to get as far away from you guys as possible, though it was nice for a while. I thought you guys were happy to get rid of me.” He threw up his hands and rested one arm on the back of the couch behind Derek, barely touching him.

“What?” Derek turned on the couch so he could face him better, his knee resting against Stiles’. “No! Everyone was upset about it. We were upset about all of you leaving, Scott, Allison, and Lydia, too. But at least they spent their summers here. You didn’t come back hardly any and when you did you didn’t even come and see us.”

“Because I thought you hated me!” He realized how loud he was being, so he cleared his throat. “And I spent my summers working at the station there because I didn’t have the money to spend on plain tickets every summer. I barely had enough money for the gas it took to get back home.”

“You drove from Florida to California?”

“Yeah. It sucked, but one of my friends from school drove with me. I dropped him off in Sacramento before I went to see my dad.”

“How’s he doing anyway?” Derek asked, glad for the change of subject. He didn’t really want to keep talking about why Stiles hadn’t kept in contact with everyone. They had all been just as bad, so he kind of understood why Stiles would think that they disliked him, though it was a ludicrous assumption. Derek wanted to show him all the ways he _didn’t_ dislike him, but he folded his hands in his lap to keep them to himself. Just Stiles’ body heat from being this close was getting to him. And how fucking delicious he smelled, like crisp autumn air just after a thunderstorm and the slightest hint of musk. It had always driven him crazy. But Stiles’ scent mixed with his and Sam’s made his heart beat a little faster. Knowing that it wouldn’t last very long was awful. But also good, because no matter how much his wolf side yearned to have Stiles here forever, his human side knew that that would never happen and he needed to keep his distance from Stiles as much as possible to save him from the inevitable.

“He’s doing better. You wouldn’t believe how much junk food I had to throw away.” Stiles huffed. “Almost a full garbage bag,” he added. Derek chuckled, but didn’t reply. Stiles pulled his arm from around the back of the couch and played with his hands. After a moment of silence he said, “You know, I was going to come back to Beacon Hills.” Derek raised his eyebrows. “I had been thinking about it for a while, about whether I was going to come back or go to New York or something, but every time I thought about it I always thought about my dad and leaving him alone. It was bad enough living away from him for six years. I can’t imagine doing it forever.” Derek hummed in response. “I know you probably don’t want me back in your pack—“

“Yes I do.” Fuck. Shit. God, he was such an idiot.

Derek’s voice was so sure that Stiles was taken aback for a second. “Really?” he asked. “But Erica—“

“Erica isn’t the alpha. And I think everyone else wants you back, too. She’s the only one with a problem with it. Scott’s your best friend, I’m sure he was sad about you leaving in the first place.” Derek didn’t add that he was not just sad, but completely devastated that Stiles left.

“Oh.” Stiles played with his hands, thinking. “I’m sorry I didn’t call.”

“Me, too.”

“Has there been any shenanigans since I left?”

Derek laughed softly as he shook his head. “Hardly any at all. I think we’re mostly in the clear now, but we keep ourselves prepared just in case. We haven’t had much more than a random omega pass by in a year.”

“Sounds boring.”

Derek shook his head. “No. it sounds safe.”

Stiles looked back at Sam’s bedroom door. “Does she know how to not flash her eyes at every new person she meets?”

“Yeah. I told her not to do it. She still does it sometimes anyways just to freak people out I think.”

“She’s so fucking adorable though.”

“Yeah. She’s strong, too. Like, crazy strong.”  
“Yeah, she almost knocked me on my ass the first time she met me!”  
Derek laughs fondly at the memory. “Yeah. She likes you though. And not like she likes most people.”

“How do you mean?” Stiles asks.

“Well, Sam doesn’t usually like to be picked up by anyone other than me and Cora.” Any time Isaac or Erica tried to hold her she would pitch a fit and ask to get down. Boyd had occasional luck when reading to her, but Derek had never seen him hold her beyond that. He couldn’t really figure out why this was though.

“Interesting.” Stiles didn’t really know what else to say about it.

“Do you have to work tomorrow?” Derek asked, wanting to change the subject.

“No, the bookstore is closed on Sundays. But I’m having lunch with my dad and Melissa. Why?”

“Just curious,” he lied.

“You should come to lunch tomorrow. My dad, I’m sure, wouldn’t mind.”  
“No, that’s okay. Sam and I were planning on staying in all day and watching Netflix.”

“Oh my God, I bet your Netflix is full of Barbie and Disney stuff, isn’t it?” Stiles laughed a little, which got a scowl from Derek. “Please God, can I see it?” He reaches for the remote on the coffee table in front of him, but Derek gets it first.

“Not if you’re going to make fun of me.”

“I won’t I swear.” He leans over and tries to grab the remote, but Derek pulls it away out of reach. Stiles was now close enough to Derek that their shoulders and knees touched. Derek suddenly felt very warm all over.

“I heard the lie, Stiles.” Derek forced himself not to think about the way Stiles was pressing up against him.

“Okay, so I’ll make fun of you a little, but that’s only because it’s so cute.” Derek didn’t hear the lie in that sentence, but still he didn’t want Stiles to also know that he enjoyed watching that stuff with Sam.

“Fine,” he said. He gave the remote to Stiles hoping it would move him away a little, but Stiles scooted in even closer. Their entire bodies were flush against each other. Derek became even more aware of Stiles when his leg started jumping up and down.

“Dude, we should totally watch ‘Pirate Fairy’!” Stiles said. Before Derek could object he hit play. Derek had already seen it and enjoyed it, but he decided not to mention that.

After about twenty minutes into the film, which he wasn’t even watching, Derek put his hand on Stiles’ leg. “If you don’t stop that, I’m going to break your knee.”

Stiles felt his heart jump in his chest. Derek didn’t move his hand for a second and Stiles just stared down at it. “Sorry,” he finally said.

Derek could hear how quick Stiles’ heart was racing, could smell the faint arousal on him. He was so engrossed in that familiar scent that he had sported since high school that he forgot his hand was still resting on Stiles’ knee. He slowly pulled away and started half-watching the movie again.

It only took a few minutes for Stiles’ knee to start bouncing again. Against his better judgment, Derek put his hand on his leg again. And again Stiles got that faint arousal smell and his heart beat pick up. He looked over at Stiles who was now watching him. For a moment they sat there staring at one another. Finally Derek pulls away. “Stiles, I…”

Stiles swallowed. “I should go, Derek.” Even though it was the last thing Stiles wanted to do, he knew that if he didn’t get out of here right now he was going to do something stupid. So he got up from the couch and walked to the large sliding door. “I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, see you,” Derek said. He could hear Stiles’ heart hammering away, could smell not only his arousal, but also disappointment and something else he didn’t quite know. So he let Stiles leave without another word.

Stiles scent hung heavy in the air. Derek told himself he was glad that Stiles was gone, but he still felt that hole in his chest. But he ignored it, turned off the TV and went to bed. Not thinking about Stiles at all. Not one bit.

 

\---

 

The sheriff was on leave for a few weeks while he got back to full health, so Stiles woke up in the mornings, made him breakfast and coffee (it was the only thing Stiles would let him have that wasn’t necessarily good for him), and the two ate breakfast together. In the morning John would usually read the paper or talk to Stiles about one thing or another until Stiles had to go to work.

He hadn’t talked to Derek since dinner that night, but asked about him and Sam at work. Erica never gave him an answer though.

Stiles had grown to like his mornings with his father and suddenly felt lonely when his dad left for work at six in the morning. Stiles sat at the breakfast table with his cup of coffee and the newspaper. He had never liked long periods of silence, but he still had three and a half hours until he had to leave for work. And he couldn’t sleep in because his body had gotten so used to waking up at this ungodly time that it was impossible for him to fall back asleep.

He decided that instead of sitting around his kitchen reading comics he didn’t find either interesting or funny, he was going to go for a run. When he had gotten to school freshman year his roommate had gotten him into the habit of running with him every morning. He had kept up his running until his dad had taken up his time. It had been almost three weeks since he had run.

He changed into loose shorts and a plain black t-shirt and his running shoes, strapped his iPod to his arm, and started off down the street. It was still mostly dark out, with just a hint of the sun coming up from behind the trees. He ran towards the preserve, which was somewhat close to his house.

He started reflecting on his high school career, how many nights he had come to the preserve, where the Hale house was (which he still didn’t like to go to because of all the death surrounding it), among other memories. This place used to be somewhere he liked to go and relax, just sit under a tree and listen to nature around him. He and Scott used to set up tents at night near the outskirts of the preserve and camp out during the summertime when there weren’t mountain lions running around (at the time they hadn’t known that most of the “mountain lions” were actually werewolves and that they were putting themselves in danger every time they went camping). But now it was perverted into a place where, if he wasn’t running, he felt like a sitting duck just waiting to be attacked.

Derek telling him that Beacon Hills was mostly a safe place had eased his initial worries, but Stiles consistently took in his surroundings and looked behind him when he was running just in case.

When his legs finally began to burn he circled around and started towards home. The sun was up more fully and it was shining through the trees above.

He stopped running right outside the preserve and instead walked home to get his heart rate down. He was breathing pretty hard, but it wasn’t painful like it had been when he first started.

“Hey! Stiles!”

Stiles heard nothing over the sound of his music even though he thought he had it at a reasonable level.

“Stiles wait up!”

Derek grabbed Stiles’ shoulder to stop him when he finally caught up. Stiles flailed his arms and spun around, ready to run again if he needed to. His heart felt like it was in his throat until he saw Derek standing in front of him.

“Dude! What the fuck?” he put his hand on his chest as his heart pounded away in his chest.

“I’ve been calling you for like five minutes,” Derek said.

“What?”

Derek rolled his eyes and yanked down Stiles’ headphones. “I’ve been calling you for five minutes to slow down.”

Stiles frowned. “Oh, yeah, didn’t hear any of that cause…” When Derek just raised his eyebrows in that ‘I-know-Stiles-you’re-a-fucking-idiot’ stare, he shut up. “Right.”

Derek shook his head, a smile playing at his lips. “Since when do you run?”

Stiles shrugged. He took in Derek’s appearance. He was dressed similarly, but Derek’s shirt was plastered to his broad chest. His face was covered in sweat and Stiles didn’t know why, but it kind of turned him on. He suddenly imagined other reasons for Derek getting sweaty and then proceeded to imagine _all_ of Derek being all hot and sweaty. Stiles backed up a few feet to get away from him when he realized Derek might be able to smell the fact that Stiles’ was half hard right now.

“How long have you been out there? You know it’s still not safe, right?” Derek looked a little angry, but Stiles didn’t comment.

“But you said—“

“That doesn’t mean something isn’t going to come here and kill you.” Derek kept his voice calm as if he were talking to a child, but Stiles didn’t let it bother him. He blamed it on the fact that he now _had_ a child and Derek probably talked like this to everyone. Derek crossed his arms under his chest and Stiles forced himself not to look at his forearms and how the sunshine was now enhancing how stupidly sexy Derek was and how even his biceps looked good covered in a sheen of sweat.

“Well I’m always careful.” Stiles finally said.

“Obviously not if you can’t hear anything coming up from behind you…” Stiles suddenly felt defensive.

“I looked behind me all the time!” He pointed with his hand towards the forest and looked at Derek, annoyed.

“You didn’t the last mile!” Stiles began to argue that he had until he realized that Derek was right. His mind had been too busy on whether he wanted to bring his dad some lunch today so he could check up on him and make sure no one was giving him something they weren’t supposed to. Derek shook his head. “So do you run every day?” he asked changing the subject.

“I will be now, yeah.”

“You weren’t before?”

“Nah. I stayed home and hung out with my dad. He’s back at work today though, so I was bored.”

“It’s good that he’s better,” Derek commented.

“Yeah.”  
“Well, if you want company on your morning runs…” Derek let the end of the sentence trail off, hoping Stiles would understand. He knew it was a stupid idea, but if Stiles was going to be in the pack again, which hadn’t actually happened yet since Scott was still not here, he needed to get used to the idea of Stiles being around.

“Uh, sure, yeah. I mean what about Sam?” They started walking again.

“Cora usually picks her up on her way to the museum since the preschool is nearby and just drops her off in the mornings.”

“Oh, that’s…nice of her, why is she being nice?” Stiles asked the question without almost finishing his last sentence, wondering suddenly why Cora was so nice. He had noticed at dinner that she was more open to talking and didn’t glare at Stiles as much as she used to. Nor did she threaten to rip his throat out with her teeth.

“Being in South America was good for her. She and Isaac met up when Isaac went down there for vacation. One thing led to another and they sort of grew to rely on the other.” Derek said with a small smile. “Isaac was intimidated and kind of afraid of her for a while, but eventually they started trusting each other. I think it took a witch trying to kill Cora for Isaac to realize how he felt about her. And then they came back home.” After a moment he added, “They’re good for each other.”

Stiles had wrapped up his headphones and turned off his music as Derek talked. He hadn’t heard Derek talk that much in all the years of knowing him, so when he looked over at the werewolf with his mouth slightly ajar it took him a second to realize that he was done talking.

“What?” Derek asked. He wiped off his face with his shirtsleeve.

“No, nothing. I just…” Stiles wiped off his face as well. “When did you get so talkative?” Derek rolled his eyes again and lightly shoved Stiles. “No, seriously though that’s great about your sister and Isaac though. They seem happy.”

“Yeah.” Derek was glad that she and Isaac had kept each other safe. He owed Isaac for keeping his sister safe since he couldn’t be there to do it himself.

They came up to Stiles’ house and Derek stopped. Stiles turned when he realized he wasn’t being followed. “You want to come in?”

Derek crossed his arms under his chest again and Stiles wished he wouldn’t because it was distracting. “No, I should probably be going…”

Stiles licked his dry lips. “Uh, yeah, okay.”

“What time do you usually start?”

“Start what? Oh, running? I don’t know like around seven I guess.”  
Derek uncrossed his arms and started walking, presumable, towards his own house. Looking over his shoulder he said, “See you tomorrow at seven then.”

Stiles looked after him. “Uh, yeah, o-okay. Bye, Derek.” Stiles tried not to stare at his ass as he walked away, he really did, but it was just so inviting and yummy that he couldn’t help it. Then when he began jogging and his ass was too far away to watch, he stared at his back and how, under the tight dark gray material his muscles would move.

When Derek turned around the corner Stiles finally went inside and took a cold shower. He did not jerk off to the image of Derek all sweaty underneath him. Not did he think about running his hands all over the hard planes of his body.

Really, he didn’t…

 

\---

 

Derek could smell just a hint of desire from Stiles under the smell of both their sweatiness, but it hit him like a brick wall. His initial thought was to take Stiles right then and there and not care who saw, but he held himself together. Barely.

Walking back to his house though was hard. Being so close that their bodies were almost touching was practically killing him. And then when they got back to Stiles’ house it took all of his will power not to accept his invitation to go inside. If he did that he might not be able to control himself for more than a few minutes. Then Stiles licked his insanely inviting mouth, which Derek couldn’t stop thinking about since their dinner almost three weeks ago.

God he was a fucking wreck.

Why hadn’t Stiles talked to him since then? Derek had been wondering this for the past three weeks. Erica had said Stiles was acting normal. Derek told her to stop being an idiot and to talk to him, but she was still kind of pissed at him for basically dropping off the face of the earth so he couldn’t get any information out of her about him.

As he jogged home he wondered if initiating the morning run thing was actually a good idea. Yes it would mean that Derek got to see Stiles all the time, which he desperately wanted, but it would also mean that _he saw Stiles all the time_ , which was going to be insanely hard if he wanted to keep his hands to himself like a good wolf. But Derek decided that as long as he was able to ignore the fact that he basically wanted to jump Stiles’ and he breathed through his mouth instead of his nose, he would do okay. This would be a strength exercise. Strength in self-control. Maybe he could get Isaac or Boyd to come along with them on their runs and make it a little easier.

When Derek got back to his empty loft he called Boyd and asked if he wanted to go for a run tomorrow. Boyd always liked to get to the school early though so he wouldn’t be able to. Isaac on the other hand said that he’d be willing to wake up a few hours early.

So the next morning Isaac rode with Cora to Derek’s loft. Derek was just finishing brushing Sam’s tangled messy hair when they walked in.

“Aunt Cora, guess what?” Sam practically jumped out of Derek’s lap to get to Cora who was smiling brightly despite the early hour.

“What, Sammy?” She knelt down in front of Sam and stroked her hair not only out of love, but so her scent was now mixed with Sam’s and Derek’s.

“Yesterday I got to see a capatillar and then, and then when I picked it up it crawled all over my hand and I saved it from a meanyhead when he tried to flick it away, but I didn’t glow my eyes at him! Just like daddy taught me!”

Cora sucked in an exasperated gasp and her smile widened. “Oh my gosh that’s awesome! Did you and your daddy celebrate? Cause I think you’re entitled to something special, don’t you?”

Derek nodded. “I already told her that this weekend we were all going to go race go karts.”

“And I get to steer!” Sam clapped her hands excitedly and Derek felt his heart melt a little like it always did where Sam was concerned.

They all talked for a little while around the dining table while drinking coffee and eating breakfast. Cora informed Derek that she wouldn’t be able to pick up Sam tomorrow morning since she and Isaac were planning a weekend away together since they finally got a weekend coordinated. Derek didn’t mind one bit. He was glad that they could spend some time together alone like they had overseas without the pack around.

Once the two girls left, Derek informed Isaac that they were meeting at Stiles’ house before they started their actual workout.

“Why?” Isaac asked with the smallest of smiles like he knew something Derek didn’t.

Derek shrugged. “I saw him in the preserve yesterday and we said we’d just run together in the mornings.” He tried his best to sound as nonchalant as he would if it were anyone but Stiles, but he knew he did a terrible job of it when Isaac just looked at him with raised eyebrows and a knowing smile.

“Whatever you say, dude.” Isaac chuckled to himself as they shut the door to the loft.

“Shut up.” They made their way down the stairs and onto the sidewalk.

“I don’t see why you don’t just ask him out already. The guy has had a thing for you since high school.” Derek gave Isaac a steely glare but didn’t respond. Isaac rolled his eyes but decided not to talk about it further, which Derek was immensely grateful for. Stiles did not feel anything towards him, he was sure. Derek was just some idiot with a crush the size of Texas. Which was stupid because the last time he felt this way about Stiles it had ended with him moping for days after he left. (It was much worse than moping, but Derek would never admit to it).

When they got to the Stilinski household Stiles was already on the front porch doing some stretches. Derek definitely did _not_ look at the way Stiles’ muscles extended or a little stretch of skin when Stiles raised his hands up high and tilted backwards. Isaac chuckled softly beside him and Derek looked at the grass. “Shut up,” he whispered so only Isaac could hear it. Isaac responded with a hoot of laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Stiles asked as he trotted down the stairs to greet them.

Isaac shook his head and responded, “Nothing, nothing.”

Derek resisted the urge to growl. “Ready to go?” At Stiles’ curt nod, Derek turned on his heal and started running, not caring if they followed him or not. The sound of their footsteps behind him told him that they did though, so Derek kept up his speed.

They ran for about an hour before Stiles slowed his pace to a jog. His breathing was heavy and his heart was racing, so Derek slowed as well. Isaac, who wasn’t used to running as much, seemed pleased at their slowing pace.

“Holy crap,” Stiles breathed. He put his hand on his side like he had a cramp and began walking. Derek wanted nothing more than to reach over and ease Stiles’ pain, but instead he ran in place making sure to keep his body busy.

It was Isaac who reached over and touched Stiles’ side. For a split second, Derek’s eyes flashed blue at Isaac before he realized that he did so. If Isaac saw, he didn’t say anything. Instead he just took Stiles’ pain quickly and then backed away to lean against a nearby tree.

“Thanks, man.” Stiles said, not breathing as hard as he was before. It was quiet between them for a few seconds. Derek finally stopped running in place and crossed his arms under his chest instead. “You can keep running if you want. I’ll catch up eventually.” He took a deep breath, settling his heart rate a little and looked between Isaac and Derek.

Derek looked at Isaac with raised eyebrows. Isaac leaned against the tree more. “I think I’ll stay with Stiles.”

“I’ll meet you at the edge of the preserve.” He turned and started running as hard as possible until he got far enough away to shift into his beta form and let out a roar of pent up sexual frustration. And self-frustration. Jesus, he could not get possessive over Stiles like that.

He was such a fucking idiot for starting these morning runs. There was no way he was going to be able to be around Stiles without all those past feelings swarming forward. He was already starting to fall for him again and he had barely spent eight hours with him. Christ, he was a mess.

 

\---

 

Stiles watched at Derek ran off into the woods. He and Isaac shared a comfortable silence as they started walking deeper into the preserve until they heard Derek’s loud roar. Isaac winced and hunched in on himself until they could no longer heard it.

“What was that about?” Stiles said. He wiped his forehead off on his shoulder and pulled his shirt away from his sticky, sweaty body.

“You _really_ don’t want to know,” was all Isaac said in response. Stiles took his word for it.

Derek was acting weird today. He barely glanced at Stiles when he and Isaac got to his house and didn’t say a word throughout the entire hour of running together. He and Isaac had held a pretty decent conversation for the first fifteen minutes of so until Stiles could barely get a few words out without having to gasp for air. They both silently decided it was easier to just run instead of talk and run. And they weren’t jogging, they were full on _running._ He couldn’t even enjoy the view of Derek’s sweet ass while running because he was too focused on not falling far behind. Keeping up with Derek was hard and Derek had to even slow down for a little because he was pretty far ahead.

But no matter how Stiles looked at it, he couldn’t figure out why Derek was so…what was the word for it?...frustrated?...quick-to-glare? That wasn’t even a word, but Stiles had a feeling that it he or Isaac said something to him about it they would most definitely get one of his trademark glares and maybe a growl to go along with it.

“Is he okay though?” Stiles finally asked after a while. “Is Sam okay?”

“Yeah, everyone is fine. I think he just really needs to be alone right now.” Stiles nodded. “Hey, you should come over for dinner next week. We can catch up more. Been busy with your dad lately?”

“Yeah, sure sounds good. And yeah. He just went back to work yesterday though.”

“That’s awesome, I’m glad for him. I bet sitting around the house all day was _killer._ ”

Stiles laughed a little at his comment because of how true the words were. “He looked like a sad puppy who got put into time out for chewing on a shoe or something. It was kind of pathetic.”

“You’d probably have the same stupid look on your face though. Except you’d be pacing around the whole time or researching god only knows what just to occupy your thoughts.”

“True. Or I’d just call Scott and bug the hell out of him.”

“He’s coming to town this summer, too right?”

Stiles had always thought Isaac had a thing for Scott in high school, but now that he was with Cora it was obvious he didn’t anymore. “Yeah, he should be here next weekend. I think he’s going to join Deaton at the clinic for the summer while he looks for grad schools. I think he wants to stay closer to home though.” Scott had stayed for an extra few weeks in Ohio saving up money for plain tickets.

“And are you staying home, too?” Isaac wondered aloud.

“Yeah. Especially after my dad’s little…episode. And I’m pretty much done with school anyways. All I have to do is take a couple tests and get my teacher’s certificate and then once a position opens I’ll just work at the high school. Maybe middle school, but I hate that age, so maybe Mrs. Good will finally retire. If not, I’ll maybe go a town or two over at the most.”

Stiles took a deep breath. He hadn’t planned on staying in Beacon Hills for more than the summer, but every time he thought about leaving his dad he got a sick feeling in his stomach. So he had realized about a week and a half after coming home that he was most likely going to end up living here forever. He’d had plenty of time away from home and away from his dad that it was pretty much completely out of his system.

Isaac wiped his face on his sleeve. “I’m sure you’ll find something. Mrs. Good can barely see anymore and I’m pretty sure the school is forcing her to retire. You should go down there some time and talk to someone.”

“Holy shit, dude, really?” Somehow Stiles had found a stroke of luck if it really was Mrs. Good’s last year teaching. He thrust his fist into the air a little with the sudden jolt of excitement. “Sweet. Oh thank god you’re here Isaac because I would have never known and I could have lost my only shot at being a teacher in Beacon Hills without having to deal with a bunch of middle school assholes.” Stiles threw his arm around Isaac and squeezed his in tight for a nice sideways hug.

When they got to the very edge of the preserve, Derek was already there waiting for them. Isaac shrugged off his arm.

“Are we running back to my house, or should we walk.”

Derek said run at the same time Isaac said walk.

“We can run halfway and then walk the rest?” Stiles proposed. They both nodded and started off towards Stiles’ house. Derek ran ahead some more, but not far enough away that Stiles couldn’t see the clear tension in his shoulders and how his hands were balled up into tight fists. Stiles wished he could ask what the hell was going on, but he knew it was none of his business. Derek’s troubles and worries hadn’t been his business since he left for college six years ago. But Stiles had the overwhelming urge to wrap him in a tight hug and make him feel better.

When they started walking Isaac and Stiles started talking about what they should do for the start of the summer. Stiles suggested a pack barbeque while Isaac thought they should go bowling. Stiles immediately struck that idea down since he knew Allison would kill them all and it wouldn’t be fun so much as it would be her gloating and the rest of them complaining that it wasn’t fair. So a barbeque it was. Stiles offered them his house since it had a nice back yard and a grill.

The whole time they talked Derek was silent. Stiles looked over at him a few times, but never asked what he thought because he figured Derek would put in his two cents if he wanted.

Once they reached Stiles’ house, the plans were made and Stiles had the job of calling Scott, Allison, and Lydia to let them in on the details of what they should bring and when it was.

“Do you want to come inside for a dink?” Stiles asked.

“No,” Derek said.

“Yeah, I’m a little thirsty.” Derek rolled his eyes, but followed Isaac inside behind Stiles.

Stiles took off his shoes and walked back into the kitchen to get three glasses down. Isaac and Derek followed but didn’t take off their shoes. He filled the glasses with water and set them on the counter for Isaac and Derek and took long gulps of his own. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Isaac elbow Derek. Derek sighed and grabbed the remaining glass and chugged it in three large sips. Stiles couldn’t help but watch his throat move as he downed the liquid.

“So…” Isaac said. he cocked one eyebrow at Stiles. Obviously he had seen Stiles staring, but Stiles pretended like it was nothing.

“Do you want something to eat? I have fruit and pancake mix and some cereal if you’re hungry?”

Derek looked at Isaac and practically _dared_ him to say something other than no. “No, I think we’ll just go home. I have a bunch of paperwork to do still before I go to work since I’m leaving early today.”

“Oh, okay.” Stiles didn’t sound too disappointed. He hoped.

“Thanks for the water,” Derek said. He put the glass on the counter.

“No problem.” Stiles took it and Isaac’s glass and set them in the sink. “And don’t forget, you get to make dessert for the barbeque. You should let Sam decorate it again.” Stiles smiled and to his pleasure, Derek returned it with the faintest uptick of his mouth. It was the first time he had seen his smile all morning—and that did count as a smile for Derek.

“I can do that.” Derek made his way to the door with Isaac behind him, and Stiles bringing up the rear.

“Same time tomorrow?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Derek said.

“Are you going to be here, too Isaac?”

“Nah man. Cora and I are headed down to Lake Berryessa for the weekend. We won’t be back until Sunday night.”

“Oh sweet dude.” Stiles patted Isaac on the shoulder. “Alright, well you guys have fun with your romantic getaway. I’ll see you next week for dinner.” Stiles smiled. “And see you tomorrow, Derek.”

Derek had a slightly confused look on his face, but he nodded in return.

When they left Stiles took a long hot shower thinking about anything but the way Derek’s Adam’s apple moved up and down when he drank water. It definitely did not lead his thoughts into other directions, and Stiles most definitely did not think about him swallowing things other than water.

 

\---

 

 Derek barely made it down the driveway before he turned on Isaac. “When did you two make dinner plans together?”

Isaac shrugged. “When you were off running around, roaring into the woods like a maniac instead of dealing with your feelings like a normal person.” Derek growled low and threateningly in the back of his throat. “Sorry, but it’s true. And what was with you today anyway?”

“What do you mean?”

“I _mean_ why were you being so sulky and not talking to us? You haven’t looked so brooding since before Sammy was born.”

“I was not sulking.” Derek forced himself to breathe and sighed, resigned. He had grown to trust Isaac with more than his life, but also his daughter’s. He knew he could talk to Isaac. In fact, Isaac and Boyd were the two people on the planet he actually _did_ talk to about things. It took him a long time and a lot of patience from Boyd and Isaac for him to feel comfortable enough to talk to them. “I don’t know,” he finally said. “It’s hard being around him.” Isaac nodded and squeezed his shoulder, but didn’t comment. “Have you talked to him since that first dinner?”

If Isaac knew how upset Derek was about the fact that Stiles hadn’t contacted him, he didn’t say anything. Instead, he just shrugged and said, “He’s been busy with his dad. And work. And I think he’s been worried about where he’s going to work full time since he doesn’t want to stay at the bookstore forever.”

Derek nodded and began to run. He didn’t want to think about this anymore. He just wanted to get rid of all his excess energy and think about something other than Stiles and how much he missed him already, even if he was now in the same town.

 

\---

 

When Scott finally got back into town the next week, Stiles was elated. Allison and Lydia had gotten back a few weeks ago, but between his dad and work he hadn’t had much time to see them except for occasional dinners.

The last time Stiles had seen Scott was when Stiles hitched a ride up to Columbus with one of his roommate’s friends who had family living there. Scott had taken him to the pride parade and then they got super drunk together and had the time of their lives. Scott had gotten hit on quite a bit, but he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, Stiles was pretty sure that Scott got a few guys’ numbers and actually put them into his phone. That had been almost four months ago.

Scott told Stiles that he was going to go home first to see his mom, but that after dinner he would be over. So Stiles waited in the living room while the minutes ticked by. His dad had gone to bed early so the house was quiet except for the low volume of some crime drama playing in the background. Stiles had found all crime shows to be underwhelming and it pained him to watch them, but nothing else was on and he wasn’t really watching so much as just playing it for noise.

He was practically itching with anticipation.

When Scott opened the front door Stiles jumped up off the couch and wrapped his arms around Scott so viciously that if he wasn’t a werewolf, Scott would have fallen backwards. “Dude, you have no idea how glad I am to see you.”

Scott wrapped his arms around Stiles and squeezed for a few seconds before letting go. “I really do though, dude.” He smiled and patted Stiles on the arm.

“My dad’s asleep by the way,” Stiles said as he closed the door softly to make sure they didn’t wake him up. “Do you want a beer or something?”

“Hell yeah.”

They talked for almost three hours, catching up and telling stories about school that they hadn’t already heard. Stiles told Scott about dinner at Derek’s place and yelled at Scott because he could have warned him Derek was now a fucking father.

Stiles asked if he was pack again, and Scott told him he was always welcome into his pack. He also wondered why the hell he left in the first place. Stiles had just shrugged and let the subject change. Scott told him all about Kira again and how she was going to come to Beacon Hills in a couple of days, which was awesome because Stiles had heard a lot about her and couldn’t wait to meet her.

When it was finally almost one, Scott said he needed to go home since he had to go into work tomorrow morning.

“Deaton’s already putting you to work? Jeez, you’d think he’d let you have at least a _little_ time to relax…” Stiles shook his head.

“You can’t talk—you started working the _day_ you got back.”

“But that was because I needed the money.”

“And I don’t?” Scott looked at him with raised eyebrows and amused eyes. Stiles pursed his lips and nodded.

“Whatever.” They hugged again on the porch. “Don’t forget, next Sunday, barbeque here at six.”

“And I’m bringing the drinks. Got it.” Scott put on his helmet and slung his leg over the bike. “And my mom is making the potato salad.”

“See you then, buddy.”

Scott waved and took off into the night. Stiles went back inside and cleared away their empty bottles. He still felt like he was wired like he could stay up for another few hours, but he knew that if he did he wouldn’t want to get up to go for a run tomorrow with Derek. So he did the responsible thing and went to bed.

Still, Stiles’ mind raced and it took him until almost three to fall asleep.

The next morning he heard a faint knock on the front door. He didn’t register what it was for a few seconds as his mind was still foggy. But then there was more knocking, this time much louder. Stiles pulled on a pair of sweatpants and headed downstairs. When he opened the door, Derek had his fist up like he was about to knock again.

Derek seemed to stumble on his words for a second as he took in Stiles’ appearance before he said, “Are we not running today?”

“Huh?” Stiles asked. It took him a second to remember that they were, in fact running together this morning. But that was the last thing he wanted to do right now. In fact all he really wanted to do was curl up into a ball on his still-warm sheets and fall back asleep until about noon or so at _least._ But the way Derek was looking at him expectantly and with hope, Stiles just nodded and opened the door a little. “Uh yeah. Just give me a minute to put on some clothes.” Stiles left the door open and walked back upstairs to his room to change.”

When he came back downstairs Derek was standing by the door with his arms crossed over his chest. Stiles averted his eyes to where his shoes were instead. After he put them on he stood and smiled tightly, still not fully awake.

Apparently Derek could tell he was tired as hell because he frowned and said, “You don’t have to run today, Stiles, I can go alone.”

“Well I’m already up and dressed, so…” Stiles shrugged half-heartedly before opening the door. When they got outside, Stiles shut and locked the door. “But maybe we can take it slow?” Derek nodded.

They jogged for a few minutes in silence until they reached the preserve. Stiles was becoming more awake with every step. “Hey, so I talked to the principle at the high school and I’m going to get Mrs. Good’s job next year.”

“Congratulations,” Derek replied.

“Thanks.”

“So does that mean you’re staying in Beacon Hills for good?”

Stiles ignored the way his heart picked up speed and just nodded. “Yeah. Once I get my license anyway. I’m taking the tests when Principal Johnson has them, but I’m pretty much guaranteed to pass them, so that’s why he felt like he could hold the position for me. And I think he owes my dad a favor, which is cool because I’d totally use my dad to get a decent job in this economy, even if it’s probably looked down upon.”

Derek snorted, but didn’t reply.

“So, you never told me. What exactly do you do anyways?”

“What do you mean?” Derek asked. He started picking up his pace almost as if he was trying to run away from the question itself.

“I mean what’s your job title?” Stiles’ breathing picked up, but now that he was wide awake and they had been running together for a few weeks it wasn’t too labored.

“I pretty much just take care of Sammy. She’s at school until noon so all the free time I really have is in the mornings.”

“Oh,” Stiles said. “Do you ever want to go back to work?” he wondered.

“Yeah at some point. I don’t really know what I’d do though.”

“I’m sure you’d find something.” Stiles had a firm belief that Derek could pretty much do anything he wanted as long as he wasn’t too stubborn to do it. The only problem was that _Derek_ didn’t think so, which really pissed Stiles off because Derek was so completely oblivious to how incredible he was and how no one thought he was anything less that amazing. Not that he said any of that, of course.

Derek didn’t fill the silence, so Stiles just kept on running.

He kept up a steady pace, but eventually Stiles needed a break so they walked through the trees, Stiles still always looking behind them to make sure no one was going to creep up on them.

“What are you doing?” Derek finally asked. His breathing was even and he had barely broken a sweat. Stiles, however, was panting and soaked.

“I’m not doing anything, what do you mean?” he asked. He lifted up the hem of his shirt and wiped off his face and neck.

It was a moment before Derek cleared his throat and looked at the path they were walking on. “Never mind.”

Stiles rolled his eyes and bumped Derek’s shoulder with his. “Just spit it out.”

Derek hesitated for a moment before saying, “You keep looking behind you like we’re being followed. You know I would tell you if we were. It’s making me…nervous.” Stiles couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled over. Derek rolled his eyes and glared at Stiles, not that it had much heat behind it. “Shut up.”

“I’m sorry, but—“ He giggled again, but hid it behind his hand. After he took a few deep breaths he ran his fingers through his sweat-slicked hair. “I’ve just never heard of _you_ being nervous.” _It’s actually kind of cute._ Is what he was about to say, but on his next breath, a sharp pain hit his side. He hissed and clutched at his rib. “Ow, fuck. Cramp.” Derek looked panicked for a split second before he smirked. He actually smirked! Who did that?! “If you say that I deserve this, you are actually an asshole.” He gritted his teeth as he slowly walked and pushed into his side.

“Well you do.” Derek grabbed Stiles by the wrist, making Stiles take a sharp breath in, only creating that much more pain before Derek lifted his shirt and placed his hand on Stiles’ side. An instant later Stiles felt warm and slightly light headed as Derek took away the pain. His eyes fluttered closed and he sighed, relieved.

“God I forgot how amazing werewolves were.” _How amazing_ you _were._ Stiles put his hand over Derek’s and ran his long fingers over the bulging veins in his arm before realizing what he was doing. Derek didn’t pull away though, so he just traced the veins with feather light touches until his veins went back to normal.

Derek didn’t remove his hand right away. Stiles rubbed his fingers down his forearm and to  his wrist before Derek pulled away. Stiles immediately felt the loss and almost whined. Derek averted his eyes, looking anywhere but at Stiles, whose breathing had somehow managed to pick up into practically panting without his noticing. His heartbeat was quick and he could feel it in his throat and he really, really wanted Derek to put his hands back on him again.

“We should head back to your house.” Derek started walking back to the edge of the preserve so all Stiles could do was follow. He took a steadying breath and tried not to think about how Derek could probably smell how turned on he had gotten just by that small amount of skin-to-skin contact. He blamed it on the fact that he hadn’t gotten laid in a few months and didn’t think at all about how big of a lie that was.

The rest of the way back to Stiles’ house was completely silent except for their footsteps. When Stiles unlocked the door he turned to Derek to ask if he wanted to come inside. Just by looking at Derek he knew that would probably be a bad idea so instead he asked, “Same time tomorrow?”

Derek shook his head. “I can’t. I have to take Sam to the dentist.”

“Oh, okay.” Stiles jingled his keys nervously. God, why was he so nervous all of a sudden? This was _Derek_ for God’s sake. Keep it together, Stilinski. “Want to go after? Or we could do something else if you want?” Stiles willed his heart to stop beating so fast. It wasn’t like he was asking Derek on a date or anything. But _God_ did  he fucking want to.

“Uh, maybe. I’ll see.”

“Okay.” Stiles put a hand up and waved before opening the door. “Well, I guess just text me or something.”

“Yeah, okay.” Derek backed away a few steps before stopping. He looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t know how to get it out. But he just turned and ran down the street towards his place instead, leaving Stiles standing in his doorstep slightly confused.

 

\---

 

Derek didn’t text Stiles the next day. He couldn’t. yesterday had been a testament to his fucking will because having his hands on Stiles’ bare skin and not taking him right then and there was the hardest god damn thing that he had ever had to do. God, the way Stiles had let his head drop back and his mouth go slack as he subdued his pain had him half hard already. Then when he had started running those long, glorious fucking fingers over his arm ever so softly, Derek had to hold his breath and think about dead puppies and old people and Cora so he wouldn’t think about how Stiles’ heart picked up and how his breathing became shallow and how he smelled crisp and sweet with an underlying scent of arousal. Derek had to count his breathing so it would remain normal so he wouldn’t look completely wrecked in the span of two minutes while he took Stiles’ pain.

When he finally let go and Stiles had looked at him with his pupils blown and that fucking mouth slightly parted, Derek had to pull away. He knew that he couldn’t act on his feelings. He couldn’t go through another loss when Stiles inevitably left.

He needed to keep his emotions in check like he had done since Stiles had come back. He needed to make sure that whatever he was feeling for Stiles stayed under the surface because he couldn’t just jump into a relationship or have something more with Stiles when he had Sam to think about. And the fact that when Stiles ditched him he would not only feel sadness for himself, but Sam would feel it too and he damn sure wasn’t putting his Sammy through any sort of pain. She’d already lost her mother, Derek couldn’t let her lose anyone else even close to significant in her life.

 

 

\---

 

It was the day of the barbeque and Stiles felt buzzed with energy. Two days ago he had gotten his teaching certificate and had been on cloud nine since. He had celebrated with Scott, Kira, Allison, and Lydia by going to Jungle and dancing the night away, waking up the next morning with the most glorious hangover, eating greasy food at the local diner, and going in to the bookstore to relay the news to Mrs. P who was so delighted to hear his news even though it meant he wouldn’t be working there after this summer. He did promise that he would help out whenever he could if she ever needed him, which she appreciated. Then he spent the night celebrating with his dad with a turkey sandwich and kale chips, which his dad frowned at (even though he ate almost half of them).

Last night he had prepared the burger patties and started marinating the ribs so that he could slow cook them this morning. The ribs were almost done and would be ready just in time for people to start coming over. He had also made a turkey burger patty for his father to eat because he was serious about this diet he was putting him on.

A few days after coming to town he had kept his promise to his dad and had gone to the towns surrounding Beacon Hills and showed his father’s picture to every place that served burgers, doughnuts, muffins, or anything that wasn’t explicably healthy for an _older_ (yes, he said older, because his dad was only 57) man that if they so much as _thought_ about giving his father anything that wasn’t strictly on his diet, they would have to face his wrath. His dad looked extremely disappointed when he came home the next night, a scowl on his face and a low-cal shake in his hand. “I asked for curly fries and this is what they gave me.” He looked at the shake with disgust. “What did you say to them?” Stiles just smiled and started cooking up some eggplant.

Because he smelled like meat, Stiles took a quick shower. He dressed in a tight fitting pain of red jeans that Lydia had forced him to buy because it “did wonders for his ass” and a faded black V-neck t-shirt he didn’t even know he owned. After throwing on his chucks and running his hands through his wet hair, patting it so it wasn’t stick up in every direction, he went back downstairs to find Scott, Kira, and Allison already carrying in food and drinks, Melissa right behind them.

“Hey Stiles!” Scott smiled, his hands full of sodas and beer. “There’s a cooler in the back of my mom’s car. Can you grab it?”

“Sure thing, Scotty.” He kissed Kira, Allison and Melissa on the cheek as he passed them and said hello. When he returned with the cooler (which was a lot bigger than he thought, Jesus, why couldn’t the guy with werewolf strength carry this monstrous thing?) he found the five of them in the kitchen sipping on beers. “Dude! What the hell?” Stiles swiped the beer out of his dad’s hand. “I thought you’d know better,” he said looking at Melissa. She shook her head and pointed at the label, which said “Perrier” on it. “Oh. Right. My bad…Heh…” He handed his dad his sparkling water back and grabbed his own beer. Melissa just raised her eyebrow at him.

Around six o’clock his  backyard was full of people. He couldn’t help but smile as he looked around and felt at home. _Pack._ That was the feeling he had, like he was finally back in the pack. God he had missed this. He hadn’t really realized how completely alone he felt until just now with all of his friends around him. Without his pack around him.

The only people who weren’t here were Derek and Sam. Stiles couldn’t help but notice their absence and Stiles wondered why they were so late as he flipped the burgers on the grill. Derek hadn’t texted him or shown up for runs for the past week, which made Stiles wonder what he did or said to make Derek suddenly so distant.

Just then, Isaac came up to him and clapped him on the shoulder. “Congratulations, man!” His smile was genuine and Stiles couldn’t help but reciprocate.

“Thanks.” Stiles felt the blush on his cheeks, but he didn’t care. He was excited to now have the pleasure of calling himself the new English teacher of Beacon Hills High School. “Hey, have you seen Derek?” Stiles was going for nonchalant, but his voice seemed strange. Isaac, bless his heart, didn’t say anything.

“He said he’d be a little late.” Isaac didn’t go on further about why or how late he’d be and Stiles was itching to ask so he didn’t have to constantly watch the door, waiting for Sam to burst through. But before he could, Cora was calling Isaac over to the little table that was in the center of the yard.

Stiles returned his attention to the grill.

Erica sauntered over and put her hand on his arm to let him know she was there. For a moment, Stiles thought it was Derek, but when he saw long curly blond hair instead of short dark hair, he sighed.

“Well hello to you, too. Expecting somebody else?” she asked with a small, knowing grin.

“Shut up, Erica.” Stiles was pretty sure that Erica had known of his crush on Derek since high school, but she had never outright said anything so he couldn’t be certain.

Erica, for all she is equally terrifying and sassy and everything Stiles loved in a woman, was also not one to poke fun of someone so clearly down in the dumps. “Hey.” She poked at Stiles’ arm until he turned to look at her. “What’s wrong?” Stiles shrugged. For a few minutes they just stood by the grill, not saying anything. Finally Erica took a deep breath and sighed it out slowly. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.” He put the burgers on a tray and handed it to her before stacking the ribs on another. They began walking towards the house.

“Why did you stop talking to us when you left?” For as long as Stiles had known Erica, he had never heard her voice sound so soft, so pained, not even when she was still the shy, sick epileptic girl. It made Stiles stop in his tracks and turn to face her.

She looked so hurt. Stiles felt his heart drop because he realized that _he_ was the one who hurt her. “I didn’t know you cared.” The moment he said the words, he realized how much of an idiot he had been to think so. He opened the door and pulled her inside before she could say anything. Stiles took the plate form her and put them both on the kitchen counter. “I’m sorry.” He took her in his arms and hugged her tight.

“You’re such an idiot sometimes.” She squeezed him tighter and Stiles laughed. “You don’t know how miserable you made us, you know.” She pulled back and wiped at her face with the back of her hand. “And then you just came back like nothing happened. I was so pissed.”

“I could tell…”

“No, you don’t know what I mean, Stiles.” She took a calming breath. “When you left, you broke a part of all of us. We all felt it, when you left the pack. It felt like we were missing something, like part of us just wasn’t there anymore. And when you came back it was like I had that missing piece, but it was just out of reach and I couldn’t get to you because it was like you were still back in Florida.” Stiles tried to say something, but Erica cut him off. “But when you finally started talking to us, to Isaac and Cora and Derek, it was like I _felt_ it when you became pack again.” Stiles didn’t really know what to say or what to think so he kept quiet. “You can’t do that to us again. You can’t leave and not talk to us.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” Stiles smiled and hugged Erica again.

“It was worse for him, you know.” Erica whispered in his ear.

“For who?” He pulled back slightly, but kept his arms around her waist.

“Derek.” Erica put her hand on his shoulder. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, Stiles—“

“Yes, yes you should,” Stiles urged.

Erica smiled a little. “The only reason he even went after Braeden was because he thought you left us for good. Before then he was pretty depressed, like he barely left his bed except to piss and wouldn’t eat unless one of us forced him to. When he finally started getting his shit together, Braeden was there and, you know… One thing led to another… But he was completely gone on you, Stiles. Like _gone_ —“ Just then the front door opened and Sam came screaming in with bright pink cowboy boots.

“Aunt Erica!” she attached herself to Erica’s leg and giggled. Derek came in with what Stiles assumed was the cake. He looked between them, but didn’t say anything. “Aunt Erica, can we play jungle gym?”

Erica smiled and picked Sam up and took her outside with a quick backwards glance at Stiles, who was still in complete shock at her words.

He had barely any time to let them sink in before Derek was out the back door, leaving Stiles alone in the kitchen.

He felt like he was going to pass out.

 

\---

 

When Derek walked into the kitchen he could hear nothing but Stiles’ hummingbird quick heartbeat. When he actually saw him, he stopped dead in his tracks. He barely kept the gasp from escaping his lips. Stiles was wearing a tight pair of red jeans that conformed to his legs, making them somehow look even longer, leaner, and God, he bet if Stiles turned around they’d show off that amazing ass. What he wouldn’t do to see Stiles’ ass in those jeans. He wondered if they’d be difficult to take off.

He mentally chastised himself for thinking about Stiles in that way because damn it, he was supposed to be _moving on_.

Sam’s voice brought him out of his little daydream though and Derek finally looked away. After he set the cake on the counter he followed Erica outside. Everyone was already there talking and laughing together. It put a small smile on his face.

“Hey Derek!” Scott came over to him and pulled him into a big bear hug, which Derek stopped feeling uncomfortable about after Scott saved his life three years ago, a few days before Christmas when a witch tried to take his werewolf-ness away (he didn’t know how the hell that stuff worked, but he had been feeling drained of power and had stopped healing. Scott had found her, Braeden had killed her, and Derek was back to normal as if nothing happened).

“Hey man. How’s everything going?” Scott and he started talking about his past few weeks in Beacon Hills and how Kira fit right in with everyone. Derek was glad that he found someone after Allison. He was the most decent person he knew and deserved to be happy. And Kira was just as adorable and sweet as Allison. The two girls had really hit it off without any weirdness between them and had become pretty good friends in the couple of weeks that Kira had been here.

A few minutes later Stiles was telling everyone that the food was officially ready and to help themselves. Derek grabbed onto Sam’s hand and led her into the kitchen.

“Derek? Can I talk to you?” Derek looked down at Sam and then back up at Stiles who had called his name.

“Can it wait?”

Cora rolled her eyes and took Sam’s plate form him. “I can make her plate.” Cora then grabbed Sam’s hand. “Alright, Sammy, do you want a burger or a dog?”

Derek hesitated briefly before following Stiles who was already working his way up the stairs. This was probably because he had stopped coming around for a run every day for the past week, Derek thought. He knew he should have said something, but talking to Stiles made him _want_ and he knew he couldn’t _have_ Stiles like that. It made him feel anxious and tired and sad just being around him. but he had missed Stiles so much that his familiar scent just made him practically buzz with content.

But Derek pushed all of that aside, put on his best poker face, breathed through his mouth, and followed Stiles into his room. Stiles shut his door quietly, but didn’t turn around to face him. so Derek just stood there and waited. But the silence was heavy and he couldn’t stand it for more than a minute. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around lately.” His voice was quiet, as if talking in a normal tone would somehow scare Stiles away, which was just ridiculous.

“Why did you and Braeden get together?”  
Derek was a little taken aback by the question. “What?” Stiles turned around and leaned against the door, looking him straight in the eyes. His heart was going a mile a minute and he smelled like anxiety and something he couldn’t register. Shit, he was supposed to be breathing through his mouth. Now all he wanted to do was soothe him. God damn it.

“Why did you and Braeden get together?” he repeated more slowly this time.

Derek searched Stiles face for any kind of clue as to where this was going or why the hell he suddenly wanted to know the answer. He came up empty. “I was lonely. She was there.” Derek left out the part where he was only so lonely because Stiles was gone and he felt like half his heart was missing, like if he moved he would shatter into a million little pieces after Stiles left the pack. Derek was with Erica and Boyd when it happened. He had dropped to his knees, the air taken right out of him. Erica and Boyd had both sucked in a breath in shock at the sudden loss of him, but Derek had felt like he was grasping for air. Both Boyd and Erica had taken him home and put him to bed. He was sweating so much that he was damp until the next day.

Stiles pushed off of the door and walked to his bed where he sat, elbows resting on his knees. Derek didn’t know what to do with his hands, so he shoved them into his pockets. “Stiles. Our food is going to get cold.”

“I don’t give a damn about our food!” Stiles stood suddenly. Derek’s eyes went wide and he stepped back once. Stiles amber eyes were a mix of angry, hurt, and resigned.

“What do you want me to say, Stiles?” Stiles sighed and shook his head. Derek could see him take a deep breath and brace himself for what he was about to say. Derek suddenly felt nervous.

“I want you to tell me the god damn truth for once and not dance around it. I want you to admit that you at least _had_ some feelings for me and not just say you were lonely. I want you to tell me right now if those feelings are still there, and I swear to _God_ Derek, if you don’t tell me the flat out truth I will castrate you.” He stepped forward and grabbed Derek’s shirt, his breathing rapid and shallow. Derek was still trying to take in his words when Stiles crashed his lips against Derek’s roughly. Derek took a sharp breath in, only to get a giant whiff of Stiles, angry, nervous, anxious scent. It made Derek sway forward ever so slightly. But it was over too quickly. Derek was just about to put his hand on Stiles’ cheek and deepen the kiss when Stiles pulled away. Derek was stunned. He felt like he couldn’t move. Stiles stepped back, just once, still clutched onto his shirt. “Well?” His voice was rough like he was holding himself back.

Derek searched for his words. He had never been good at voicing his emotions. He was good at actions, showing people what he felt. So instead of indulging Stiles and telling him how he felt, he took his shoulders, turned, and pushed him back onto the door, and kissed him.

A gasp escaped Stiles’ lips and Derek swallowed it greedily. He put his hands on Stiles’ hips and pulled his hips forward to close the small space between them. He hummed when Stiles put his arms around Derek’s shoulders. When Stiles pulled back for breath, Derek trailed kisses from his lips across his cheek to his jaw where he sucked and bit softly. He breathed in Stiles’ scent unashamedly. He smelled that same heady scent as before, and it struck Derek so suddenly that he gasped. Having Stiles like this made his head spin. He bit down softly on Stiles’ neck, not enough to bruise, but enough that it still felt like he was claiming Stiles as his own.

So much for staying away and keeping guarded…

Derek practically whined when Stiles put his hands on his chest and pushed Derek away to look at him. Stiles was silent for a few seconds still catching his breath. “You never answered me.”

Derek frowned. “Was I not clear enough?” He moved in to kiss Stiles again, but Stiles pushed him back even more.

“I want you to say it.”

Derek held his breath for a few seconds trying to form the words. Apparently Stiles knew what he was doing because he didn’t push him away more or make any move to leave. “You’re so infuriating sometimes.” Stiles opened his mouth to scoff Derek, but Derek continued. “You drive me crazy. And you challenge me and you make me laugh even when I’m feeling like shit.” Derek cupped Stiles’ cheek. Stiles leaned into his touch, encouraging him and Derek felt his heart skip. “When you left the pack… it felt like nothing would ever be okay because you weren’t there to fix it. I was so in love with you that I didn’t know which way was up without you.” He sighed and leaned into Stiles. “Since you’ve come back I’ve tried not to fall back in love with you, but the truth is I don’t think I ever stopped.” He sighed and closed his eyes as he leaned his forehead against Stiles’.

“Jesus, who knew you were such a freaking sap?”

Derek opened his eyes to see Stiles smiling at him with a pleased expression. Derek scowled for a split second before Stiles brushed his lips up against his. This kiss was soft and gentle and not at all rushed like the previous one.

After a few minutes of soft touches and sweet, languid kisses, Derek finally broke them apart. “Sam is asking where I am.”

“We better go down there then.” Stiles said and kissed Derek again.

“Yeah.” Derek kissed him swiftly. “Our food is probably cold by now.”

“Mhm,” Stiles moved his tongue over Derek’s bottom lip. “I’m sure everyone knows what we’re doing right now.”

Derek smiled and finally pulled away from Stiles completely. “They’ve been listening to our entire conversation.”

To Derek’s amusement, Stiles rolled his eyes and said, “No fucking boundaries in this werewolf-ridden town.” He looked amused more than put out, so Derek just chuckled softly.

“My daughter can hear you, you know. She says you have to put a dollar in the swear jar.”

“When did you get a swear jar?”

Derek laughed. “Since you got back in town.”

Stiles rolled his eyes and kissed Derek one more time before finally opening the door.

When they finally made their way downstairs, they found everyone waiting with knowing smiles, smirks, and Sam’s slightly confused face. Derek rubbed the back of his neck while Stiles grinned triumphantly. No one said a word about it, thankfully, and after about thirty seconds of complete silence, it was like nothing had happened and they were all back to their normal conversations. Sam ran up to Stiles and jumped up, Stiles catching her and bringing her into a hug. Derek could hear her sniffing at his neck where she buried her head. “You smell like home,” Sam whispered. Derek felt his heart tighten and placed his hand on her back. Derek kissed her head and smiled at Stiles.

“He does, doesn’t he, baby?” Derek kissed Stiles on the cheek and loaded up two plates of cold barbeque, feeling like everything was, for once in his life, exactly right.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr [here](http://carryonmywayward-castiel.tumblr.com/)! Thanks again for reading!


End file.
